NASA 'Middleware for Metadata' Becomes Top-level Apache Project

In 1998, NASA launched a project called Object-Oriented Data Technology (OODT) to create a framework for data sharing. Some 12 years later, OODT has officially graduated from an Apache Incubator project to a top-level open source Apache project. Sean Michael Kerner has the story in his ServerWatch report NASA Tech Gets Open Source Apache Blessing.

OODT, which began in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), earned its top-level status after just one year as an Apache Incubator project. Kerner lays out the criteria it had to meet for the graduation:

Incubated projects must show that they can release software under Apache Software License and under the Apache governance. They must also be able to can grow a diverse community, consisting of contributions from multiple organizations.

The Apache Software Foundation, which describes OODT as middleware for metadata, deemed the project worthy.